President's Science Advisers Recommend Government Not To Meddle

Trigger

I just read “Go Easy on MOOCs”. The official blog post is here titled “PCAST Considers Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Related Technologies in Higher Education”.

Irony Of History

President Obama, who is one of the worst business enemies since President Franklin D. Roosevelt, has apparently a President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology who his Administration to back off and not to meddle with new technologies sure to disrupt higher education as we know it since Aristotle.

Or are there some wise men and women on this council who needed to tell President Obama? :-)

Welcome Recommendations

“PCAST recommends three key steps the Federal Government can take to derive maximum benefits from new education technologies:  

• Let market forces decide which innovations in online teaching and learning are best.  PCAST discourages the premature imposition of standards and regulations that could impede the power of competitive market forces to spur innovation in the educational technology sector, and recommends that the Federal Government encourage innovation by letting the market for these technologies work.
• Encourage accrediting bodies to be flexible in response to educational innovation. PCAST recommends that the Federal Government urge regional accrediting entities to be flexible in setting standards for online degrees to accommodate new pedagogical approaches and to avoid stunting the growth of a burgeoning industry.
• Support research and the sharing of results on effective teaching and learning. PCAST advocates for more research into how technology can best foster learning for the broadest possible range of students, taking advantage of the data-collection features of new high-tech tools. PCAST also calls for the development of a national exchange mechanism for these data to accelerate research and enable adaptation of teaching to suit the various types of learners.”

I have quoted the recommendations verbatim from the above referenced blog.

Hope The President Gets The Message

However, there is little hope since President Obama started over five years ago he has learnt little if anything. His obstinance has rather increased over time.

Mr. President would you mind leaving this to free markets and The People to decide and choose which way higher education is to develop in the future.